Could Sartre (let alone anyone else) tell us something more profound than this? I guess not.. ------------------------------------------ Please — tame me! he said. What does that mean — tame? It is an act too often neglected, said the fox. It means to establish ties. To establish ties? Just that, said the fox...if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. What must I do, to tame you? asked the little prince. You must be very patient, replied the fox. First you will sit down at a little distance from me — like that — in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day... The next day the little prince came back. It would have been better to come back at the same hour, said the fox. If, for example, you come at four oclock in the afternoon, then at three oclock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four oclock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites... What is a rite? asked the little prince. Those also are actions too often neglected, said the fox. They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours.... So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near — Ah, said the fox, I shall cry. It is your own fault, said the little prince. I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you... Yes, that is so, said the fox. But now you are going to cry! said the little prince. Yes, that is so, said the fox. Then it has done you no good at all! It has done me good, said the fox. Goodbye, he said. Goodbye, said the fox. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. What is essential is invisible to the eye, the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. Men have forgotten this truth, said the fox. But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. Forever....
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 08:40:48 +0000